As AI approaches and exceeds human intelligence, I’ve been thinking a lot about where humans fit in the mix. I hope you’re thinking about this, too.

Compared to any time in history, there are a few unique aspects about the technological change we’re facing.

First, we’re not replacing a horse with a car, or a book with a Kindle. We are replacing intelligence. This has unparalleled consequences for the usefulness of human beings.

Second, nobody knows what’s next. Even the most ego-driven tech bros say … “we don’t know.” Will we enter a period of enlightenment, or will we destroy ourselves? Don’t know.

But here is something that we do know. Many knowledge-industry professions are facing an existential crisis. And our survival might depend on art.

The economic value of intelligence is zero

Every company is built on the organization of intelligence. We manage human intelligence units who possess useful knowledge in HR, accounting, marketing, etc. As those humans gain more intelligence, they are rewarded with economic incentives like money, stock options, and vacation days.

But what happens when there is no economic value for intelligence? Think about the ChatGPT you use every day. It’s more or less free, and it’s getting better month by month. As the capability increases, the cost to access that intelligence also goes down. So the most prized possession in any company — intelligence — is becoming a commodity. And that truly changes everything.

Now at this point, you might want to stop me and say, “But what about …”  Of course there are exceptions. And as I said, nobody knows for sure. But one trend we can see with clarity is that the economic value of intelligence will be near zero, and that is profound.

The impact on marketing careers

Let’s get more granular. Where do humans fit in the future marketing world where intelligence is not prized as it once was?

If you care about the sustainability of your marketing career, I beg you to read Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World. This book spells out very clearly the human-only aspects of marketing we can protect. It’s not about fighting AI or ignoring it, but transedning it in a uniquely human way. The book contains hundreds of ideas.

And here is a major theme of the book that I want you to internalize and carry with you forever.

If you’re a competent person creating competent work, you are vulnerable. You are ignorable. AI will take your job. I can’t sugarcoat this. AI is already competent and even excellent at many tasks. It is already taking jobs.

But here is one thing I am sure of: Art will persist. Art is the future of your marketing.

Becoming marketing artists

Tech analyst Shelly Palmer recently wrote:

“The debate over AI and its role in creative industries often centers on one question: Can AI ever be as creative as humans? While it’s tempting to philosophize about inspiration and ingenuity, this line of inquiry misses a crucial point for anyone tasked with making practical decisions about content creation: If the audience can’t tell the difference between AI-generated and human-generated content—or if they don’t care—then, for all practical purposes, there is no difference.”

My view is, you have to make them care!

Art is the expression of the human experience. AI can fake this in a convincing way. A humanoid robot recently painted a picture that sold for $1.6 million. But we will always hold on to the music, the stories, the paintings that are an irreplaceable part of a human story.

The same goes for marketing.

To stand out, you have to be original. To be original, you have to add your human story to the marketing mix. This requires a new way of thinking and some courage, but what choice do you have?

Your voice, perspective, and wisdom are the only things AI cannot copy. There is only one you, and the world is longing for authenticity that cuts through the AI pandemic of dull.

So here is one key to success. Art is an expression of the human condition and brand marketing must aspire to do the same. To survive and thrive in the AI-pocalypse our marketing must approach art. Make your customers care about your content.

Which would be audacious. Audacity: The AI survival skill.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post When intelligence becomes worthless, marketing artists will survive appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Last week, I analyzed a fantastic promotional video from Apple through the lens of Audacious, a book that describes a framework for disruptive and bold marketing. After reading that post, fellow marketer Mandy Edwards sent me another new video — this one from KFC UK — and asked, “What do you think of this one?”

Today, I present a story of audacity that went horribly, horribly wrong! Let’s see what happened when a company tried to create a chicken-based cult …

Why we need to disrupt our marketing

Before I get to this ad fail, let’s back up one step and discern why companies need to focus on bold marketing today. Some of the main points in the book:

• About two-thirds of ads register no emotional reaction with their audience. If there were a CMO for the ad industry, the person would be fired. We wallow in a marketing pandemic of dull.
• Dull has been normalized in most industries. So if you break a norm, you just might find marketing gold.
• Consumers respond to storytelling that is refreshing and new. Young consumers today love quirky content and offbeat humor.
• Finally, if all you need is marketing “meh,” AI can accomplish that. If you’re only competent, you’re vulnerable to job replacement. Competent is ignorable.

The Audacious book presents a framework anyone can use to do this: disrupt the narrative, the medium, and the storyteller.

Now, let’s get to the heart of our story. KFC created a video that certainly broke industry norms. In this ad, UK agency Mother London urges customers in a busy world to believe in chicken as if it were a new gravy-based religion.

Take a look:

You’ll note that this is “Part 2.” Part 1 involved zombie dancers, who received more favorable reviews.

Audacity and gravy

How did KFC shake things up? Three ways:

1. Obviously, this ad broke industry norms. Perhaps there has never been a promotional video like this in the history of fast food … at least not one featuring a lake of gravy!
2. The company was appealing to GenZ’s penchant for quirky humor.
3. There is a subtle connection to “purpose” here. If you feel lost, you can still believe in chicken. Everything in the world is changing, but KFC has always been there for us.

There are precedents for this offbeat, bold marketing approach that have been wildly successful.

• Liquid Death disrupted a boring water market with cringe-worthy ads
• Nutter Butter tripled its cookie sales with fever dream TikTok videos
• Duolingo stood out in an established, dull market of language education with an unfiltered owl.

So if KFC was following the Audacious playbook like these brands, why would it receive YouTube comments like:

• “I cannot possibly imagine how any person thought this was a good idea.”
• “I’ll never eat at KFC ever again, nor will anyone in my household.”
• “They should fire their entire marketing team.”

This video is an unmitigated disaster. They took a big swing and struck out. Here are three reasons why.

1. Too much to lose

There is a common thread among the three successful case studies I mentioned: They had nothing to lose.

• Liquid Death was a disruptive startup going up against Coke and Pepsi.
• Likewise, Duolingo was a new way to learn that had to attack the industry establishment.
• Nutter Butter is an older brand but had no real meaning to consumers. It had been forgotten, so it had nothing to lose by re-introducing itself to Gen Z.

Should an established brand like Coke advertise like Liquid Death? No. Coke has built a century of goodwill in the consumer’s mind.

Would Oreo ever take a page from the bizarre Nutter Butter playbook? No. Oreo is the number one brand in its category.

KFC is the biggest chicken franchise on earth, by far. It has built decades of memories and thrown them away into a lake full of gravy. Instead of building on its heritage creatively and renewing its deep meaning with a new generation, it’s taking a step backward.

“We are being polarizing because we want conversation,” said Martin Rose, executive creative director of Mother London told Ad Age. “Essentially, we’re creating our own cult of fandom.”

But this seems to me like a desperate attempt to be the new cool kid. And besides …

2. Some taboos can’t be broken

My book is a rallying cry for those who will not be ignored. It urges people to break bad rules for good reasons. But I also caution that being audacious does NOT mean you’re doing something illegal, reckless, or offensive.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the U.K.’s independent advertising regulator, received nearly 600 complaints about KFC’s commercial, a spokesperson told ADWEEK.

The complaints include people saying the ad promotes cannibalism, that it glorifies cults and satanism, and that it mocks Christianity and baptism.

Now, a lot of famous ads receive complaints from the easily-offended. Is this really knocking religion or is it just silly?

Language in the company’s description of the ad reinforces the offense:

“Fear not, for salvation in sauce is near. Trust in the thumping sound of the golden egg. Trust in the liquid gold elixir. Trust in the divine dunk. And whisper the sacred words All Hail Gravy.”

The phrase repeated in the Bible most often is “Fear not.” So of course any Christian would be offended when a company compares their salvation to gravy.

And then there is the gravy dunk, where a person turns into fried chicken. No, no, no. Also, no.

3. It’s just gross

The ad didn’t just offend people who don’t prefer cannabilism; it upset just about everyone in the ad industry.

One commentator on Marketing Beat called the ad “disgraceful,” describing it as “degrading and disturbing.” Others labeled it “vile,” “uncomfortable,” and “horrendous.”

One marketing industry observer noted: “I’ve never complained about an advert before, but this is beyond the pale.”

Getting out of the gravy

I don’t want you to be dissuaded from bold marketing and taking risks because of one bad ad. But we should reflect on how something like this ever sees the light of day. When an ad becomes a public disaster, one of four things has happened:

1. Internal political fear.

This is the biggest problem I observe, by far. When a powerful company executive falls in love with an idea and forcefully champions it, agencies, hungry for that next paycheck, nod along like bobbleheads. Corporate minions, fearing for their cubicles, become a chorus of yes-people.

2. Lack of diversity in the creative process.

If the team behind an ad campaign lacks diverse perspectives and backgrounds, they may miss potential blind spots or fail to anticipate how certain groups could perceive the ad negatively. Having a homogenous team increases the risk of tone-deaf messaging.

3. Overconfidence and lack of external review.

Respected brands can sometimes become overconfident in their marketing abilities and fail to get sufficient external feedback before launching a campaign. Big brands often mistake their logo for a shield of invincibility. This insular approach prevents them from catching potentially offensive or controversial elements.

4. Failure to consider the current cultural context.

Ads that may have been acceptable in the past can become problematic if they fail to account for evolving cultural sensitivities and the social climate around issues like race, gender, body image, etc.

In other words, when executives put egos above common sense, gravy happens.

Being remarkable matters. Bold marketing matters.

But not all risks are created equal.

Keep pushing edges, but remember what you stand for.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post The Thin Line Between Bold Marketing and Brand Suicide appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I have been going around the world giving two new speeches. One on “Harnessing AI for Your Business” and a new one based on my new book Audacious.

In the AI speech I make an important point — The rate of change will impact us as individuals and businesses as much as the change itself. To thrive we need to adopt a new mindset, a mindset of continuous change at a scale that is unprecedented in the history of our planet.

Think about it. The moment you read this sentence is the slowest rate of technological change you will ever experience.

If you’re in marketing, the problem is doubly difficult. It’s just nuts out there, and we need help coping!

I thought it would be interesting to discuss coping strategies with Jay Acunzo. We are both regarded as thought leaders in our spaces, and there is no halfway. Either you’re keeping pace, or you’re not.

In the new episode of The Marketing Companion we reveal our own strategies and secrets to stay ahead. Fasten your seatbelts! The world of blazing change is ahead. Just click here to listen:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 312

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this fantastic episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post Six practical tips to stay ahead of the marketing learning curve appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I think everyone should work on having an effective online presence — a personal brand. It’s like an insurance policy for your career. If you’re “known,” more doors will open, more calls will be returned, you’ll have more choices in your career.

Like most people I know, Amanda Russell barrelled into her brand without a clear plan. When her career as an elite athlete was upended by injury, she took her re-hab exercises online and became one of the first YouTube fitness influencers.

She leveraged this experience into business ventures, starting and selling a couple businesses. Her next venture was in academia, creating pioneering programs at Northwestern University and the Univerisity of Texas. Along the way she’s consulted to some of the biggest brands in the world.

Sounds like a dream, right? But something was missing. Amanda realized she wasn’t practicing what she had been preaching — authenticity, human connection, and taking risks. She spent months working through her next step and she discusses this journey in the next episode of The Marketing Companion.

I think this is an interesting point in time to look at this issue. Some of us have been working on personal brands for years … 15 for me! But many are out-growing their skin and it’s time to evolve. Amanda provides a case study on personal brand evolution.

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 311

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this fantastic episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

The post Exploring the personal branding pivot appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I am a fan of internet pioneer Kevin Kelly. His futuristic projections and books have informed much of my work. And while I don’t always agree with him, I pay close attention to his writing.

Last week, Kevin wrote a blog post titled The Handoff to Bots, which thinks through the implications of two colliding megatrends: global de-population due to a rapidly declining birthrate and the inevitable rise of AI bots taking over human jobs.

This collision seems calamitous — how many businesses depend on steady population growth for their economic progress? The specter of the population and job market simultaneously crashing in a freefall seems horrifying.

But Kevin is optimistic, even in the face of this probability. His thesis is that AI is not only capable of manufacturing and innovation but also driving consumption and economic growth. He contends this “handoff” from human labor to machine efficiency is essential for sustaining and improving living standards despite a declining human workforce.

What AI Utopia?

Kevin’s article repeats a familiar futurist theme: When the bots come, we’ll be able to do whatever we want to do! No more careers, no more toil. We will be living in Leisure World.

Go play. Or volunteer. Or write poetry. Hurray!

When will a transition to a dreamy AI Utopia arrive? Job loss is already occurring in some sectors, like customer service, where thousands of jobs have been replaced by AI agents.

But the initial tendency for these displaced workers isn’t to start watercolor painting or gardening. They’re looking for another job because there is no safety net for AI-replaced workers. There is no AI Utopia, at least not for the foreseeable future. There are bills to pay.

When will we see job displacement at scale? Many AI advocates say it’s soon, but I think it will be at least two to three years away. Why? Because every time a big tech shift seems imminent, it’s not. Tech moves fast, culture moves slowly, so there will be an adjustment period.

But, it’s coming. And when it does, there will be no mass migration to AI Utopia, as the futurists like to say. Most displaced people will be looking for jobs, not fishing trips. This is what’s nagging at me. What are the plans to help people navigate to a world without work? Who is planning for this?

Our smartest visionaries, like Kevin Kelly, think it’s inevitable.

But how?

Surviving AI Utopia

To get to the next step in my thought process, let’s assume we figure this transition out. The AI bots and humanoid bots arrive. They take millions of jobs. Somehow, the government extracts bot-created wealth from the technocrats, and re-distributes it equitably to the unemployed, and we indeed enter a new era of AI Utopia for humanity.

So we’ve arrived. But there is another aspect of this “do whatever we want” vision of Leisure World that’s unsettling. What exactly will we be doing with all this free time? Take endless vacations? Sit around writing poetry? Plant flowers?

If many careers go away, realistically, how will people fill their time? How many flowers can a person plant? My mind is boggled by the prospect that billions of work hours could suddenly be shifted to … what?

If and when we get through this transition to AI Utopia (5-10 years away?), there will be significant business opportunities ahead. Think about what businesses could thrive if they focus on 1) occupying all this vacant time and 2) creating meaning in our lives.

Occupying time

Part of the new AI Utopia will indeed be leisure. Follow your dreams! Thinking this through, there could be a huge surge for any products and services that serve these areas:

• Creative Industries: Art, music, literature, and design could experience a renaissance as more individuals pursue creative expression and innovation. Lessons, art supplies, crafts.
• Entertainment and Media: Immersive virtual reality experiences, gaming, and digital content production would evolve to offer personalized, high-quality entertainment. High-end electronics, gaming, gambling.
• Travel and Experiential Tourism: As disposable time increases, tourism may shift toward experiential and culturally rich travel, emphasizing unique, transformative journeys. Hunting, fishing, premium travel.
• Wellness and Personal Development: Sectors focused on physical health, mental well-being, and self-improvement—such as fitness, mindfulness, and holistic health services—are likely to expand. Trainers, studios, fitness apps, gear.
• Lifelong Learning and Education: Education could transform into an ongoing, enrichment-focused experience rather than a strict career path, fostering personal growth and new skill development. It could be a niche for universities or, more likely, community colleges.

Not an exhaustive list. But if you’re looking at a transitional career, these areas might be good bets.

Creating meaning

When the bots come, some people will just drop out, take the government replacement income, and sit on the beach all day. But I think most people will want something more than a hobby to occupy their time. They’ll need to replace the meaning and personal value that comes with having a job.

This will be a significant problem: Creating personal meaning for millions of unemployed people! So if you figure out a way to do that when AI Utopia arrives, you’re probably on a path to success. How might people find new meaning?

• Community and Social Engagement: Social clubs, local cultural events, and artisan markets might thrive. Might be an opportunity for a fresh approach to local service clubs.
• Spiritual Pursuits: I think there will be a renaissance in religion and religious studies. Joining a church community can provide meaning as well as companionship.
• Volunteerism. Perhaps the greatest benefit of Leisure World will be a passionate workforce ready to solve problems, protect our planet, and lift up the needy.

Another interesting side note on volunteerism. A recent experiment with a universal basic income found that when people had a stable monthly flow of money, their charitable giving increased. So the AI Utopia future might mean more volunteers and also more funding.

The asteroid we’re ignoring

There was news recently about an asteroid that might hit Earth in 2032. The probability is less than 1%, but scientists have already tested processes to alter its path. Cool.

What are the chances that AI and robots will displace millions of jobs by that same year? Far higher than 1%. Yet we have no deflection plan. No preparation strategy. No safety systems.

As we move closer to this inevitable collision of depopulation and unemployment, you’ll hear this refrain about humans being “free to pursue anything they want” over and over again. That’s not a solution. That’s the beginning of the real problem.

The next time the AI experts claim how we’ll all be free to do whatever we want in this AI future, ask them what that actually means.

Ask them who’s building the bridge.

Ask them who’s creating the safety nets.

And, ask yourself, what are our business plans for preparing for both the problems and opportunities of a drastically changing world?

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy Mid Journey

The post From Work to What? Surviving the AI Utopia Narrative appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

“The most human company wins.”

If I ever had something close to a “catch phrase,” it’s probably this. I use these words to end most of my speeches. It is the central theme of my Marketing Rebellion book. Of the millions of words I have written, this is the only phrase I have trademarked.

But I had to pause this week and wonder if it’s still true. The data is in, and it’s startling. AI isn’t just matching human empathy—it’s now exceeding it. What happens when the AI bots are more human than humans?

The empathetic bots

If you’ve immersed yourself in the world of AI (and I hope you have), you’ve witnessed the inexorable and explosive improvement of these systems on every level.

Recent breakthroughs show that AI can now reason through problems instead of just collating web data, demonstrating human-like logic. And now, AI can express empathy and understanding in a way that is more human than humans.

New research (first reported by Mike Kaput of the Artificial Intelligence Show) suggests that AI may not just match human empathy but, in some cases, exceed it. A team of researchers tested whether people could tell the difference between responses from GPT 4 versus licensed therapists when presented with therapy challenges. The participants struggled to tell AI from human responses, and when they were asked to rate them, they preferred the AI responses in key areas like empathy, therapeutic alliance, and cultural competence.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the AI therapist was more effective in producing results in a patient. In fact, there is evidence of harm coming from bot-therapists. However, the breakthrough idea is that AI can produce empathetic responses that are preferred over highly skilled professionals, and there are some interesting implications for that.

Is it real human emotion? No. But it doesn’t seem to matter.

The leap to the business world

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how scaling soft skills like this could provide immediate value in the corporate world.

Allstate, one of the largest insurers in the U. S., is using AI to generate nearly all its emails for communications about claims. The reason — responses from bots are less accusatory, use clearer language, and express more empathy than humans, according to the company.

Allstate is using ChatGPT to fuel the customer replies, while grounding them in company-specific terminology.

Implications for our human work

Some people have soothed themselves by hoping that we could never take real human empathy out of our jobs. But these developments show that extracting humans from a process can produce results that are more empathetic,  patient, kind … and profitable.

AI might represent perfect empathy. It never tires. It never judges. It maintains unwavering patience and understanding, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It can instantaneously access and process vast databases of human psychology, cultural contexts, and communication strategies. It can read micro-expressions better than humans, understand vocal tone with greater accuracy, and predict emotional responses with superior precision.

If a customer receives better care, feels more understood, and achieves better outcomes with AI, what possible value is there in knowing their customer service rep or account manager is a human who has “real” feelings?

The harsh truth is that in many cases, human empathy will become a liability. Organizations that cling to human-delivered empathy will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, unable to match the consistent, scalable, and superior emotional intelligence offered by AI.

Right?

Does human empathy matter?

About 20 years ago, I went through the darkest time of my life, an episode I describe in Chapter 1 of my book KNOWN. I would not wish that experience on anyone, but I emerged with a new superpower.

When I meet somebody who is “below zero” in their life, I can look them in the eye and express empathy based on my own experience. It’s not perfect. I’m not a trained psychotherapist. But sometimes, the perfect empathy isn’t based on a database or interpreting micro-expressions. It’s messy. It comes from a hard, lived experience. It comes from scars.

When you’re just trying to get through life hour to hour, you need something more than a bot.

It’s a paradox. While AI can demonstrate behaviors that appear more consistently empathetic than humans, this very fact illuminates something profound about human nature and our future role in an AI-dominant world.

The human advantage isn’t in flawlessly executing empathetic responses — it’s in our capacity for genuine connection, especially when we’re imperfect. We can relate to others precisely because we share the messy reality of being human: we know what it means to struggle, to doubt, to sit in a dark corner and sob. Our empathy comes from going through an existential war, not AI pattern recognition.

What emerges isn’t a story of replacement for human empathy, but of evolution.

The most human company

Yes, the most human company still wins. But the most human company will be the one that thoughtfully blends AI’s reliable, empathetic responses with unique moments when we need our messy, vulnerable, beautiful, authentically human selves.

Those companies will recognize that while AI can handle the day-to-day empathetic heavy lifting, breakthrough human connections — those moments of real understanding, creativity, and growth — still require human hearts and minds.

One time, I had a coaching call with a young man who had a resume-writing service. This is a pretty boring product that has been commoditized. I struggled to help him find a meaningful niche where he could stand out.

“Why do you do this job?” I asked.

He became emotional and animated. “I see people every day who have not looked for a job in 20 or 30 years,” he said. “They are terrified. I know I can help them. I will hold their hand through this process. I will not let them down.”

I told him to record a video of himself saying exactly that and post it on the front of his website immediately. His humanity was his niche.

Sometimes, true human empathy is everything.

The most human company wins. Now and forever.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy Mid Journey

The post When Robots Care More: The Evolution of Human Empathy appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

One of my favorite strategic brainiacs is Mathew Sweezey, and we used our latest podcast episode to explore the ideas we’re most excited about for the New Year. I think these are non-obvious, interesting, and worth your time!

Some of the items we discuss:

• Why enterprise-level AI integrations will finally begin to drive ROI
• The human-driven opportunity of experiential marketing
• Why brand communities are the new media
• Why marketing success might depend on change management
• How marketers will overcome a pandemic of dull

… and more!

Sit at the table with us, won’t you? Listen in as Mathew and I explore what the year has in store for us. All you have to do is click here:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 306

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this fantastic episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

The post Six marketing megatrends we’re watching right now appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

One of the most significant periods of my life was the three years I studied under the world’s greatest business consultant, Peter Drucker. Dr. Drucker is known as the father of modern management, but he also contributed to the creation of marketing as a professional discipline, wrote extensively about entrepreneurship and innovation, and is generally regarded as the greatest business philosopher of all-time.

There is not a single day that I don’t hear his voice in my head as I work through customer problems. His advice has become the foundational pillars of my work and in many respects, my life.

But there is one piece of advice he gave me that is remarkably useful to me in this overwhelming world of change, and I think it will help you, too. Let’s reveal that today.

Immersed in the problem

I studied under Dr. Drucker while pursuing an MBA at the Claremont Graduate University. He had retired from most of his professional life and devoted his time to mentoring students in the business school that now bore his name.

He would sit on the edge of a desk with a carafe of coffee and talk about his books. It was impossible to outline his talks as he took us on a jagged journey through his life and the fascinating people he met along the way.

Dr. Drucker taught us through the Harvard case study method. We were assigned a long text detailing a complex business problem. Over weeks of classes, we would dissect the issues from every angle. As business leaders, our tendency was to try to solve the case and resolve the problem.

And that’s when Dr. Drucker would go nuts.

It’s not about the right answers

This class was filled with experienced leaders eager to display their intelligence and insight by “solving” the case study.

Nothing irked Dr. Drucker more.

“The people in this case study have been working in their business for 30 years or more,” he would say. “What makes you so arrogant to think that you can solve the problem when they can’t? Your job is not to have the right answers. Your jobs is to have the right questions.”

This might be the most important advice of my professional life and informed how I approach all my business consulting assignments. I approach business problems very humbly because I am never the expert in the room. Why would I have the right answers?  However, I can guide people to the right questions — the real key to a resolution.

I’ve found that most leaders have the knowledge and insight to solve their problems if they know where to find an answer.

Relevance of the right questions

The marketing world is far too complex to be an expert in everything. I’m not sure you can be an expert in anything! However, you must be immersed enough in the day’s issues to ask the right questions. You have to have a sense of what is possible.

I think curiosity is the most important soft skill for marketers today. For me, asking the right questions is not just a prerequisite to effective consulting. It helps me become a better author, speaker, and teacher.

Asking the right questions is also the true heart of all great content creation. If you put the work into finding the right questions, great content will surely follow.

Jay Acunzo and I just dropped a fun podcast episode demonstrating the opportunity to ask the right questions. We challenged each other to pose questions that the other person had never been asked before. And it worked! I invite you to have some fun with us and enter a world of challenging questions.

All you have to do is click here >

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 305

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Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

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Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post You don’t need to have the right answers if you have the right questions. appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

What were the most popular blog posts of 2024?

This is more difficult to answer today than a few years ago because my posts are read in so many different places today. I don’t spend the time curating social media views across all the various channels (like Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn) but certainly can see when a post goes “viral.”

Here at least is an estimate of the most popular posts of 2024 based on post views.

1. How to Reimagine Universities for the AI Era

Although this post appeared just a few weeks ago, it was “boosted” by Medium and appeared on the front page of the platform’s website. There is some wild thinking here, and most people agreed with my view that colleges need a radical new start.

2. In Defense of Jaguar (I think I’m the Only One)

A post that caused a rumble, earning 17,000 views on LinkedIn. I almost didn’t comment on this car controversy, but so many people wrote to me to ask what I thought about it that I took the plunge.

This is a good example of “spiky” content. I posed a contrarian view, not to be contrarian but to expose a defensible argument.

3. The Real Reason Marketing Content is Getting Worse

The idea is that a creative dependency on technology limits people’s ability to innovate because they don’t know the craft. This hit a chord with people, resulting in hundreds of reader comments across the web.

4. The Biggest Threat to Free Speech and Democracy Isn’t Speech. It’s Amplification

There are so many arguments about protecting free speech and the limits of free speech but most people are missing the point entirely. The opportunity for vast amplification of any view was something the Founding Fathers never anticipated.

5. It’s Time to Create a Creator Guild

One of the major limits on AI progress is a lack of access to high quality content. I would happily turn over almost 20 years of content to my AI overlords for fair compensation. Wouldn’t you? Solves so many problems.

6. Ten Non-Obvious Social Media Trends

In my early days as a blogger, I commented on social media almost exclusively. I thought it would be fun to return to my roots and point to some trends that seem to be passing many people by.

7. How Blogging Changed My Life

2024 marked the 15th anniversary of my blog. I normally don’t dwell on the past but this was an opportunity to reflect on how far I’ve come as a blogger. While blogging might seem like the OG social media content, it is still as vital as ever and still growing.

8. Why AI Will Not Doom Marketing

Open AI founder Sam Altman blurted out that AI will easily and rapidly eliminate 95% of all marketing jobs. I don’t know AI, but I do know marketing and I had to point out why this is view is simply wrong.

9. How to be the Best Fake Possible

If I hear the word “authentic” one more time I think I’ll hurl. Do we really want authentic? It never crosses my mind when I watch a spectacular action movie created almost entirely by CGI. If I value spectacular in the real world, why not in the business world. Should we embrace the Era of Spectacular?

10. The Biggest Mistake Content Creators Make Today

This might seem like a click-bait headline, but it’s not. I’ve done hundreds of personal coaching calls, and 90% of the people I speak to have grotesquely sub-optimized their content because of this one mistake.

So that’s a wrap. I’ll add that my top five podcast episodes of the year were:

1. Why it was time to burn this community to the ground

2. Beyond Imposter Syndrome

3. Creating your signature story

4. What business are you in — really?

5. The inescapable role of humans in an AI world

If you’re a fan of the blog, I think you will love The Marketing Companion podcast! 

Thanks for being here, and here’s to a great 2025.

Need a keynote speaker about brand communities? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

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Illustrations courtesy MidJourney

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